Letters to the editor

The unnecessary attention being paid to the topic of defence minister Manohar Parrikar falling asleep during the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath exposes post-truth India.

Parrikar’s forty winks

The unnecessary attention being paid to the topic of defence minister Manohar Parrikar falling asleep during the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath exposes post-truth India. Social media has been flooded with images of Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani, Siddarahamiah, etc, with their eyes closes—all of them were accused of dozing off at one official ceremony/ocassion or the other. It is quite easy to take pictures of individuals while they bat an eyelid or are engaged in contemplation with their eyes closed, and subsequently share these online claiming that those individuals were asleep. Due to fatigue, stress, lack of sleep and several such reasons, we often catch forty winks. After all, the politicians are also human beings. It is immature to make such a mountain out of a molehill. Media should refrain from reporting such stories.

KB Dessai, Fatorda (Goa)

Rationalise income tax

The income tax evasion aspect of black money has been well taken care of by demonetisation. To simplify complexities of income tax and save time of assessees, the I-T policy must do away with the numerous exemptions and deductions of small amounts, say, of no more than Rs 20,000. For all deductions and exemptions, cap gross income at a suitably low amount, say, Rs 5 lakh at least. Otherwise, the problem of a rather convoluted tax policy will checkmate any headway acheived via note-ban.